[Repost] The Monday Syndrome

I have attended more than 50 training programs – called by different names. Training, Learning & Development, Corporate University, Intervention, Experiential Program, Team Building, Offsite, Assessment Center, Development Center – to name a few. I have also designed and conducted a few myself. Most of them have been educational, insightful, exciting, and fun.

If I were to categorise their objectives simply, there are two categories – skill development programs and behavioural change programs. Skill development includes technical as well as managerial skills – how to develop a business case, create impactful presentations, communicate effectively, lead teams, etc. Behavioural change involves building new abilities – working with people, especially ones I don’t exactly like, ability to express myself fully when I can’t, ability to manage conflicts, etc.

The skill development programs have worked well for me. I learnt new skills, practiced them during the program, and implemented them at work whenever I found an opportunity. It has given me results over time and I continue to attend and conduct these programs.

The behavioural change programs, on the other hand, suffer from what I call the “Monday Syndrome”. The first Monday after the training I go – “Wow, what an awesome program. I really learnt a lot of things. You should also attend”. The next Monday is – “What training program?”

I started sharing this observation and everyone unanimously agreed about the “Monday Syndrome”. It’s time now to start digging deeper into what could be missing in the behavioural change programs that leads to the “Monday Syndrome”. That’s what we will look at tomorrow.